Volcano

The Artist

Jungle is a London-based collective led by longtime creative partners Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland, who launched the project in the early 2010s with a deliberately anonymous, image-forward aesthetic. Their sound blends modern soul, funk, disco, and electronic production into something both retro and unmistakably contemporary, built for movement as much as headphones. Over the years, Jungle has expanded from a duo into a broader live band and visual troupe, with dance choreography and one-take music videos becoming as central to their identity as the records themselves. Their catalog has grown steadily more confident and groove-driven, and Volcano, their fourth studio album, arrives as their most collaborative and choreography-obsessed statement yet.

The Album

Volcano was released in August 2023, self-produced by Lloyd-Watson and McFarland at their own studio in West London, continuing the DIY approach that has defined the project from the start. The album leans harder into house, disco, and hip-hop textures than earlier Jungle records, and features guest vocalists and rappers woven into the fabric rather than treated as one-off features. It was rolled out alongside a full-length continuous dance film shot in a single take, meaning every song was built with visual movement in mind. Thematically, it circles around love, longing, heartbreak, and the push-pull of relationships, dressed up in some of the sunniest, most physical production the group has ever put to tape.

Listen For

The falsetto blend. Jungle's signature is the interlocked falsetto harmony between the two frontmen, and across tracks like "Back On 74" and "Dominoes" the voices sit so tightly together they read almost as one instrument.

Guest voices as texture. Listen to how featured vocalists are folded into the mix on tracks like "Candle Flame" and "Problemz", trading verses rather than being spotlit as traditional features.

Groove architecture. Pay attention to how the rhythm section drives the record: tight, dry drums, walking basslines, and looping guitar figures anchor songs like "Holding On" and "You Aint No Celebrity" with almost mechanical precision.

A quieter emotional center. "Ive Been In Love" pulls the energy down into something more vulnerable and confessional, a reminder that under all the choreography there's a breakup record in here.

Heartbreak dressed in sunshine. The lyrics keep returning to lost love, jealousy, and moving on, from the wistful "Good At Breaking Hearts" to the closing "Pretty Little Thing", even as the production glows.